


A Knight's Duty

by inujuju



Series: HSWC 2014 Fills [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Slick gives Karkat more credit then he deserves, he should really pay attention to whose talking to Karkat, trolls session
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 10:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2618699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inujuju/pseuds/inujuju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spades Slick, formerly Jack of the Black Army, travels with Karkat to defeat the Black Queen. Along the way he stabs and maybe thinks a bit about the kid. But ultimately a knight has their duty to play, even if it's only causing distress in another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Knight's Duty

If there was one thing Jack couldn’t understand, it was the eccentric troll known as Karkat Vantas. Terrified of being stabbed yet constantly butting into fights only to scream the offenders into submission, Karkat was the strangest troll of the ragtag bunch Jack was forced to work with.

Now not everyone was horrible but they all deserved a good stab or two.

“Jack put the knife away already!” Karkat yelled at him and he glared at Karkat but the troll just glared back. Apparently after they made their truce Karkat decided he could be a little badass and order Jack around. Normally Jack would stab someone like that, but he did need the brats help. 

Also after witnessing the kid takedown his denizen by himself whilst shouting at his friends through his computers mic to get them through their own sac of horseshit Jack wasn’t too sure if he wanted to challenge him.

Despite all his grumbling though, Karkat was… interesting, not fun but interesting to be around. He always had a witty come back and even though he had a shorter fuse than Jack he was slower to draw his blade. Karkat could scream a whole army of imps into obedience before they even got within killing range and those assholes had tentacle arms!

But Jack was never one to just sit back and do what he was told. He gutted his fair share of imps and if he so happened to fall into step with the mutant troll than who the fucked cared he was finally getting to stab shit.

~

Karkat worked it out with his friends and now, finally, they were storming Derse. The desire to stab, and maybe have a sloppy make-out, with the Black Queen was reaching its peak. Jack happily stabbed the annoying minions, as they moved. 

His kill count may have been lower than Karkat’s but his stab count was clearly higher and that’s what mattered! Not like he was actually counting or anything…

Karkat spoke to his friends on his computer, the strange desk following them as they moved and as they stabbed. Apparently it was a pretty heated discussion because Karkat was yelling at the computer but Jack couldn’t give a rat’s ass.

“Hey Jack?” He stopped briefly, turning to look at Karkat, see the blood shining off his weapons and bruised skin. Kid should be taking better care of himself. “We’re partners… right?”

“Of course we fucking are,” Jack spoke, anger colouring his tone like normal, “up till we get rid of that bitch as promised.”

“And beyond that?” Perhaps, if Jack was a smarter man, he would have noticed the implications behind that question. How Karkat’s eyes fell and his lips wobbled. How he was asking a question he really didn’t want to know the answer too.

“Who the fuck knows.”

~

Jack was so happy he could actually stop himself from stabbing Karkat, remembering that he didn’t enjoy it that much in the first place. The bitch was gone! He was even able to sneak a kiss when the kid got thrown across the room during the fight.

Part of him was surprized at how… well…easy it was to stab and fight and everything. She may be without her ring, but she was (keyword being was) a queen. Rather pathetic he might say.

Of course the real strength was in Karkat’s plan and Karkat himself. If Jack had been left to his own devices he probably would have been stabbed in the eye.

“We won… Jack.” Jack nodded at Karkat, the strange grin not leaving his face just yet. He wanted to rush over and actually hug the troll, of all things. The kid had done good and despite his bruises and exhausted slouch Jack was proud of him for making it so far.

But the troll was playing with something gold and suddenly it was like a switch had been flicked as Jack remembered about the ring.

“Hey kid hand that over.” The troll didn’t look at him and that was pretty weird. After the initial stab-and-greet the kid always looked him in the eye. At least as far as Jack noticed. “Hey brat, didn’t you fucking hear me? Hand over the ring.”

“No.” It took a moment for the word to sink in. Besides all the screaming the troll did, he never said ‘No’ to Jack, even at stabbing! Sure he’d tell him to stop but he never actually fought against him. He… Karkat… trusted Jack, didn’t he?

“Why the fuck not?” And Karkat looked at him and for once, in the haze of revenge and stabbing and something more sinister, Jack got a good look at him. Karkat was no longer the kid that trembled at the sight of a stranger with a knife; he was a troll hardened beyond his years and could take down armies alone. Karkat who kept his team from killing each other, who lined up their denizen’s for the kill and had planned the death of all the kings and queens. All of them. All the kid had left to do was make a fucking frog and how could someone who wore the blood of his enemies like a set of pajamas fuck that up?

(When in fact did he sleep? Despite being with him from the start Jack couldn’t remember.)

“Jack you… Listen alright.” And Jack did, he really did. “You put on this ring, you get powers beyond either of our imagination and you become another obstacle to us winning this game. You become another king to slay. Another pawn to this game”

It was so odd… hearing Karkat talk like that, voice dead and all factual, like his robot friend that chimed in every now and then. 

But Jack… Poor little Jack. His crown was already broken, his body made of wiring, his will not his own.

“I don’t want to fight you so… So just leave Jack.” And Karkat slipped the ring on his finger, a clear challenge but his eyes, locked on the gold instead of Jack, begged him to leave.

And Jack did the only thing he could think of, he stabbed.

(And when Karkat left to complete the frog, Jack’s body covered in superficially cuts all displaying his blood, their oath, he decided that he wanted to finish the game sooner rather than later)

(And that was the true role Karkat’s Jack played)


End file.
